GameBanshee's CRPGs at E3 summary

Well, you have mostly MMORPGs listed in <A href="http://www.gamebanshee.com/editorials/e32003page1.php">this summary</a>, but there's bits on <A href="http://www.swkotor.com">Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic</a> on <A href="http://www.gamebanshee.com/editorials/e32003page1.php">page 1</a>, <A href="http://nwn.bioware.com/shadows">Shadows of Undrentide</a> on <a href="http://www.gamebanshee.com/editorials/e32003page2.php">page 2</a>, and on <A href="http://www.gamebanshee.com/editorials/e32003page4.php">page 4</a>, there's <i>Vampire: the Masquerade - Bloodlines</i> stuff. Stuff like this:

<blockquote>Heading down a desolate alleyway, our demonstrator showed how you can manipulate some of the surrounding environment. Using the mouse, he grabbed a large pallet and barrel against a wall and moved them out of the way to reveal a previously hidden area of the city. Through this opening, we proceeded down into the sewers. Deep within the sewers, we encountered a "Vozhd", which resembled a female human with spider-like legs. She made quick work of us by hurling various corpses that were strewn about the floor, which demonstrated the unbelievable physics of the engine. As the bodies hit the walls or floor, they would bounce and flail realistically, knocking over any obstacles in their way. </blockquote>

Interacting with the environment is neat stuff, but I hope it's used for more than dragging pallets to hide holes.

Spotted this at <A href="http://www.homelanfed.com">HomeLAN Fed</a>.

 

That Vohzd is completely different to the one portrayed in V:TM:R, which was a huge beast with multiple mouths all over it's body. I haven't got any storyteller source books, so I can't really say who made the blunder, but I hope Troika stay as true to the setting as possibly, pure cheese that it is.

 

From what I've seen, there's different types of vozhd, but there's generally one common kind that is made up of a number of ghouls. I believe it can still keep going after it's been split apart and may recombine (not sure), so that leads to some interesting encounters.

Their description might be a bit off, as the "spider-like legs" might have been appendages made up from the combined ghouls, and a vozhd is pretty strong.

 

If you look at the trailer, you can see the Vozhd, and it's not "spider-like legs"... the whole thing consists of multiple BODIES. Nothing even remotely spiderlike.

 

Well, I hadn't taken a look at the trailer, but now it does make sense.

The writer at GameBanshee needs their eyeglass script checked.

 

GameBanshee has always been bad at these things.

 

From the Kotor preview, how to fastly kill immersion:

It's like a school trip. Every time the bus stops only certain kids can trod along with the teacher. Don't these NPC's have any life of their own instead of just sitting in Ebon Hawk, waiting for our hero to maybe take him/her along for a quest?

 

Yeah, there's nothing like having a pool of people who are supposed to have their own personalities and desires stuck on board your starship waiting for you to ask them to do something for you.

 

Wow... just like Final Fantasy!

And also just like Anachronox, another game that would have been better off as an adventure game, where linearity and set character development are expected.

 

I agree that this makes the game less RPG, but it does not imo doom the game to sucking. As Spazmo points out Anachronox had many similar elements (including mini games) but I still enjoyed it immenesly. True I woiuld not call it an RPG per se, rather an adventure game with combat and RPG-lite.

Most of what I have heard about KotOR sounds as if it is going to be in this vein. That is fine as I have enjoyed two games recently that were in this hybrid genre (the aforementioned Anachroinox and PS:T). What both those games had going for them, what made the linearity palatable to me was that the story inspired me to continue...I want to know what happens. This is precisely what robs them of their RPG status, it nevertheless made for enjoyable games.

Based on what I have seen of Bioware's writing/chraccter scripting, I have very little faith they will be able to pull it off.
Do I expect a rich RPG experience..no
Do I think it possible that the game is fun nevertheless...yes, tho not betting on it

 

I agree, it doesn't necessarily mean the game will suck. But I always think it stupid when I tell a NPC to leave my party and when I return after a week of adventuring he's still standing there. I liked the way in BG2 Valygar and Mazzy went back to their houses and if I ever needed them I could find them there. Not very dynamic, but still better than the alternative of standing in the same spot for a couple of days.

Maybe it's the interpretation of the journalist, but based on the preview the way they handle this "NPC switching" radiates artificiality. I hope at least that all NPC have plausible reasons to join up with you and furthermore have a plausible reason to stay put in a space vehicle while crossing the galaxy. It would be nice if the NPC's left behind in the spacecraft started doing things on their own, like visiting a local bar, doing some trading or shopping or getting into trouble with the local authorities. This will make a world much more believable and interesting in my opinion. And as a bonus it allows the possibility for some nice quests.

 

Bioware radiates artificiality. *cough*Stone of Recall*cough*

Or have them wander around from location to location, forcing the player to have to use his or her brain to track them down, inquiring with NPCs, looking for clues, etc, but then again--Biosnore isn't really known for making games that require any thought. Much better to let the AI take charge, right?

 

Unless it was done exceptionally well and with intelligence, this tracking down of NPCs sounds like a drag to me. It might be artificial to have the NPCs stay put (tho I can see easy ways to justify this) it still sounds not only less irritating but no more artifical than : NPC will roam between 4 points can always be found at one of these four. That just forces me to run from place to place until I can find them...snooze

In Anachronox when there was a plot forced need for a particular NPC, they made this evident thru the story; that is some plot element logically explained why some had to go or stay. The rest had plausible reasons for saying behind at a central location and I *far* prefered that to hunting around for them.

My point that if done well the convention can work

 

The thing that bothers me the most about it is that it opens the door for the game to be similar to the party design of NWN even though it's not a really a party game. A party of two or three people won't have all the bases completely covered, so it makes me wonder if you're not going to have to run back and forth to the ship to swap out NPCs to get what you really need rather than making the design of the game work with what party you currently use.

As for the question of what NPCs should do when you kick them out of the party, they should do a number of things based on what they tell you. Some should head home, and tell you that. Some should get pissed off you don't want them and leave for good. Some should go to the local bar and hang out for a while. Having the NPCs just go to your ship and wait is just so half assed.